Colophon: Excvdebant Lvgdvni Melchior et Gaspar Trechsel fratres, 1538. The address on the t.p. is that of J. and F. Frellon; see Mortimer

Holbein's drawings for the 41 ill. probably date from 1524-25, and the wood blocks were cut by Hans Lützelburger before 1526 (the 36th ill. incorporates his monogram); see Hollstein. Each cut is preceded by a Latin caption taken from the Bible, and followed by a quatrain in French that generally paraphrases the caption

Signatures: A-N

Mortimer, R. French 16th-cent.

Hollstein German

Getty copy incomplete. It consists of 13 trimmed leaves printed on both sides with text and illustrations, thus comprising 26 of the total of 41 illustrated pages. That they are from the 1st ed. of 1538 is confirmed by comparison with a facsim. of that ed. (New York : Dover, 1971). Each page is annotated beneath the lower left-hand corner of the image with a sequence number in brown ink. A different number is written beneath each corresponding lower right-hand corner, reversing the sequence: thus the two numbers written beneath "The Fall" are 2 and 40, and those beneath the next image, the "Expulsion from Paradise," are 3 and 39. The numbers written at the lower left of the last two images in the Getty copy are 52 and 53, rather than 40 and 41, which would correspond to their position in the first ed. of 1538. This may indicate that the MS numbering sequence was taken from an expanded set of 53 images, first published at Lyon in 1547 by J. and F. Frellon; see Hollstein

Titles and sequence numbers of the images contained in the Getty copy (as given in Hollstein): 2. The Fall, 3. Expulsion from Paradise; 6. The Pope, 7. The Emperor; 10. The Empress, 11. The Queen; 12. The Bishop, 13. The Duke; 14. The Abbot, 15. The Abbess; 18. The Judge, 19. The Lawyer; 22. The Priest, 23. The Monk; 24. The Nun, 25. The Old Woman; 26. The Physician, 27. The Astronomer; 30. The Merchant, 31. The Knight; 34. The Countess, 35. The Noblewoman; 38. The Peasant, 39. The Child; 40. The Last Judgment, 41. Coat of arms of Death

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